An analysis of the barriers and drivers of microtransactions in online video games

Abstract:

The aim of this research was to analyze and identify the barriers and drivers of microtransactions in
online video games. The relationship between customer satisfaction against different forms of
Microtransactions created by developers will be explored. The idea is to retain or increase potential
profit while increasing/retaining customer satisfaction and not impact brand image or entice negative
connotations. This research attempts to answer it’s objective questions via a quantitative survey with
a relatively large sample size ( n = 496 ). The research specifically targets users of consoles and
personal computers and splits up the sample between those users that have participated in the
purchase of Microtransactions and those who have not.
Through the data analysis were the competitive nature of games and the inclusion of a trade system
identified as donating factors that promote users to make Microtransaction purchases. It was found
that both Microtransaction users and Non-Microtransaction users are both most likely to spend realmoney
in Free-To-Play games. Despite the uncertainty surrounding microtransactions from the
gaming community, it was identified that Microtransactions users described their purchases with
positive elements, with 69.1% (320 out of 464) of respondents agreeing that their purchases allowed
them to enjoy their game experience or promote them to play more. The most popular donator for
users to make Microtransaction purchases were “Superiorly designed cosmetic products”. Users
were asked their opinions on new Microtransaction initiatives such as the “Crate-Unlock System” that
has begun to change the world of cosmetics and character customization. Even though such newly
implemented systems have gained substantial popularity and success the majority of reactions were
negative ( 68.1%+ , 314 respondents ). Downloadable content still proved to be more of an attractive
purchase than cosmetic purchases, with 70% of users stating that they were more likely to pay for
downloadable content than cosmetic items. Even though Microtransaction users accounted for 93.5%
of the respondents, exactly half of them only spent less than 5 euro per month on such purchases,
implying that there is still room for improvement in such regard. 61.3% of the Non-Microtransaction users base answered that they would rather purchase games that
did not feature any microtransactions ( 19 out of 31). Several questions aimed for Non-
Microtransactions indicated that a fair portion of Non-Microtransaction users were not planning on
converting and did not identify any factors that would promote them to make such purchases in the
future besides a reduction in price.